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The pups are back in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie. The action-packed animation film is directed by Cal Brunker from a script by Brunker and Bob Barlen.
Brunker, who also co-wrote and directed the previous two PAW Patrol movies, was especially excited to tackle the challenge of making a film grounded in reality, even in the animated space. “We all love dinosaurs,” he says. “But animating dinosaurs is not easy! We wanted our dinosaurs to move in a way that felt authentic, believable, and realistic, pulling everyone even deeper inside the story. So one of the coolest things about making this movie was talking to real dinosaur experts to learn exactly how the bones and muscles fit together.”
It was also crucial to Brunker and his team that these new prehistoric characters fit seamlessly within the world of PAW Patrol and never became too cartoonish. “It was important to me that we kept them majestic,” notes Brunker. “We wanted to capture the sense of wonder you get when you see dinosaurs, and hopefully inspire a whole new generation of dinosaur fans.”
The PAW Patrol is far out at sea on their boat when a storm suddenly hits, causing them to crash onto an unknown island. As they venture farther into this strange place, they quickly discover they’re not alone: they have found the only location in the world where dinosaurs still exist. Luckily, they meet Rex, a Bernese Mountain pup who’s been stranded on the island for several years and has since become an expert on all things dino-related. He couldn’t be a more perfect guide to show the pups around Dino Island, where the pups meet all types of dinosaurs from the T. rex to the Triceratops, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus.
A Paw-Some Team
Created in 2013 by Keith Chapman, the television series PAW Patrolwas developed by the Canadian global children’s entertainment company Spin Master. The uplifting stories in each episode follow the adventures of Ryder, a tech-savvy young boy with high-tech headquarters and vehicles, who rescues exceptionally intelligent puppies for his search and rescue team. With each new episode, the central team of pups – Chase, Marshall, Skye, Rubble, Rocky, and Zuma –work together to solve problems and support their communities, always treating everyone with kindness, empathy, and compassion.
Over the last decade, the series has become a globally beloved, massive pop culture hit, airing in more than 160 countries and generating two highly successful feature-length films – PAW Patrol: The Movie in 2021 and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie in 2023. And now the pups are back for an adventure that’s both pawsome and roarsome in PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie.
When setting out to cast the perfect actors to step into these pup-sized roles – many for the first time – Brunker says the fact that almost every actor with a kid in their life knows about PAW Patrol helped secure some of the world’s biggest stars. “The best part of working with such a unique mix of performers is that you’ve got their distinct voices and different personalities playing off each other, and it brings the scenes to life,” says the director. “In this movie, we’ve got Jennifer Hudson, Terry Crews, Jameela Jamil, Fortune Feimster, Snoop
Directed by Cal Brunker and produced by Jennifer Dodge, Laura Clunie, and Toni Stevens, PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is based on the television series created by Keith Chapman, and is written by Cal Brunker & Bob Barlen. Starring Carter Young, Mckenna Grace, Terry Crews, Meredith MacNeill, Ron Pardo, Jennifer Hudson, Hayden Chemberlen, Fortune Feimster, Jameela Jamil, Rain Janjua, Bill Nye, Paris Hilton, Lucien Duncan-Reid, William Desrosiers, Nylan Parthipan, and Snoop Dogg, introducing Henry Bolan.
After their ship gets caught in a mysterious storm, the PAW Patrol pups crash-land on an uncharted tropical island filled with dinosaurs. They meet Rex, a pup who has been stranded on the island for years and has become an expert in all things dino-related. When the PAW Patrol’s archrival, Mayor Humdinger, begins recklessly mining in hopes of exploiting the island for its natural resources, he inadvertently causes a huge, dormant volcano to erupt. The PAW Patrol pups are thrown into a series of high-stakes, dino-sized rescues bigger than anything they’ve done before, as they must stop Humdinger before everything on the island goes extinct.
CAL BRUNKER (Director, Written By) is a director and writer of animated feature films. To date his movies have grossed over half a billion dollars at the box office. Brunker is best known for turning the beloved TV series PAW Patrol into a hit theatrical feature film franchise for Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Spin Master. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is the third movie in the trilogy.The PAW Patrol movies have been incredibly successful critically, theatrically and on subsequent streaming platforms. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023) was the #1 film at the worldwide box office on its opening weekend. PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) has been in the Netflix Global Top 10 for 17 weeks, with hundreds of millions of views on streaming platforms. Brunker also wrote and executive produced Son of Bigfoot, an original animated feature film released by Studiocanal and nWave Pictures. The sequel, Bigfoot Family was released on Netflix in February 2021, and quickly became the #1 movie in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand on its first week of release. Brunker previously wrote and directed the animated features The Nut Job 2 (2017) and Escape From Planet Earth (2013). Brunker came to writing and directing features with a strong background in storytelling. In his years as a story artist he was responsible for visualizing and staging some of the most memorable sequences in the hit animated films Minions, Despicable Me, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and Horton Hears a Who!
BOB BARLEN (Written By) is a screenwriter of animated feature films. To date, his movies have grossed over half-a-billion dollars at the box office. He’s best known for turning the beloved TV series PAW Patrol into a hit theatrical feature film franchise for Paramount, Nickelodeon, and Spin Master. The PAW Patrol movies have been incredibly successful critically, theatrically and on subsequent streaming platforms. PAW Patrol: The Movie (2021) has been in the Netflix Global Top 10 for 17 weeks, with hundreds of millions of views on streaming platforms. PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie (2023) was the #1 film at the worldwide box office on its opening weekend. The third movie in the trilogy, PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie is coming to theaters around the world in summer 2026. Barlen also wrote and executive produced Son of Bigfoot, an original animated feature film released by Studiocanal and nWave Pictures. The sequel, Bigfoot Family was released on Netflix in February 2021, and quickly became the #1 movie in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand on its first week of release. His previous animated features include The Nut Job 2 (2017) and Escape From Planet Earth (2013). Barlen is a member of the Producers Guild of America, and came to features through writing and producing animation, comedy/variety television, and high-end CG commercials.
